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Only about half of patients take medication as prescribed, resulting in unnecessary hospital admissions and ER visits that cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $290 billion a year. To help combat the problem, many doctors are trying a more high-tech approach: They're recommending smartphone apps that send reminders to patients to take their medications and record when they take each one...

An article recently published in the International Journal of Surgery shows the potential applications for Google Glass in the surgical setting, particularly in relation to training. The authors of the study obtained a Glass device through Google's Explorer Program and have tested its applicability in their daily pediatric surgical practice...

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, nominated to run "Obamacare," would bring a wealth of expertise in economics and government management to one of Washington's toughest jobs, even though she has little direct experience in the healthcare industry...

How is it that a few doctors take in millions of dollars from Medicare? Explanations for Wednesday's eye-popping numbers from Medicare's massive claims database ranged from straightforward to what the government considers suspicious, as the medical world confronted a new era of scrutiny...

Windpipes, bladders, blood vessels, and other structures have previously been created in part from a patient's own cells and then implanted. Eventually, scientists hope to tackle more complicated things like lungs and kidneys with this strategy, which is aimed at avoiding rejection of transplanted organs...

Medicare paid a tiny group of doctors $3 million or more apiece in 2012. One got nearly $21 million. Those are among the findings of an Associated Press analysis of physician data released Wednesday by the Obama administration, part of a move to open the books on healthcare financing...

It may sound far-fetched, but scientists are attempting to build a human heart with a 3D printer. Ultimately, the goal is to create a new heart for a patient with their own cells that could be transplanted. It is an ambitious project to first, make a heart and then get it to work in a patient, and it could be years — perhaps decades — before a 3D printed heart would ever be put in a person...

Three years ago, doctors reported that zapping a paralyzed man's spinal cord with electricity allowed him to stand and move his legs. Now they've done the same with three other patients, suggesting their original success was no fluke. Experts say it's a promising development but warn that the experimental treatment isn't a cure. When the implanted device is activated, the men can wiggle their toes, lift their legs, and stand briefly...

The calls may come in the middle of the night and from hospitals more than an hour away. Someone is having a stroke and is en route an emergency room in the Florida Keys, but there aren't any neurologists on call. Within 15 minutes, a neurologist pops onto a computer screen and can order an IV drug. It's that sort of potentially life-saving technology that may drive down healthcare costs, while also addressing serious doctor shortages...

In a north London hospital, scientists are growing noses, ears, and blood vessels in the laboratory in a bold attempt to make body parts using stem cells. It is among several labs around the world, including in the U.S., that are working on the futuristic idea of growing custom-made organs in the lab...

With a weak heart muscle and heart valve problems, Ruben Rivera said he was apprehensive about having a new type of battery-powered defibrillator implanted under his skin that could shock his heart if it sensed an irregular rhythm. But the 62-year-old San Antonio resident has no regrets since becoming the first patient here to undergo the procedure late last month...

The year since Jeff Bauman was pushed in a wheelchair from the Boston Marathon, his legs ravaged and his face ashen, has been marked by pain and difficulty but also by triumphs: He's learned to walk on new prosthetic legs, he's gotten engaged, and he's an expectant father...

Recent estimates indicate more than 65 percent of surgical procedures utilize minimally invasive techniques and this percentage is only expected to increase with time. This statistic supports the widely-held belief among industry experts that the imaging technology that best allows the surgical team to see exactly what is happening inside the patient without opening will be preferred by all hospitals...

The numbers don’t lie. The sharps injury rate in surgical settings has increased in the 14 years since the passage of the federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act of 2000. While the rate of injury has dropped approximately 31.6 percent in non-surgical settings, it has increased about 6.5 percent in the operating room. Why?